Cardinal and the Raven
by True Courage
Summary: EPISODE I: He found the officer's body near the center of the room, his throat covered in blood. The attacker was near the bed, blood covering her chin. Her golden eyes were wide with rage as she glared at him, ready to strike...


**WARNING: this story is rated M. Not T, not MA. M. Which means it's got some potentially offensive material. A fact that should be obvious since it is M. I want some pie. You want some pie? Well, make sure you don't accept any from someone who dresses funny and wears a lot of make-up. So any of the Orange County House Wives. If you get the quote, go eat a small cake. And yes, I am ranting. Deal with it. Either that or just skip the rest of this and read the story. Mumblemumblemumblemumble...**

Xxx

Gordon arrived just as Batman took out the last thug. Unfortunately, the leader of the horrid men had escaped. Batman had wanted to teach him a lesson personally, one they would and could never forget. Well, he would find them eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later. Maybe he would castrate him before handing him over to the police. That sounded like a good idea.

Batman hated a lot of people. He hated dealing with those people, but deal with them he did. Murderers, thieves, gangsters. He had grown used to dealing with them. Heck, he fought the Joker on a regular basis. But that was familiar. He was used to it. He could even handle dealing with the super humans and immortals that found their way to Gotham. This was different. This was new. Batman had never had to handle something like this. This made Batman's blood boil with almost uncontrollable rage.

Gordon led his men into the building. Batman was seconds from from disappearing into the night. But he couldn't. He had to see this. He had to see what these men had done. He didn't know why, but he felt it his responsibility. So he followed the commissioner into the building. There was no way either of them could have been prepared for what they would find.

Twenty sets of eyes immediately landed on them, wide with fear. They belonged to children, none over fourteen. They were half-starved, covered in dirt, and what clothing they had barely covered their broken bodies.

Child prostitution.

It was honestly the most disgusting thing Batman had ever encountered. It was horrifying. It made him want to hunt down and kill anyone who knew anything about those men and said nothing. But he couldn't. He was Batman.

"Are all of you here?" Officer Matts asked one of the older bys.

"N-no," the boy stuttered. "Aellai isn't here."

"Do you know where she is?"

"D-down the hall. It's where they take us when..."

"Thank you," Matts smiled softly. "The officers will take you somewhere safe."

Matts took a breath and began to walk down the hall. He dreaded what he might find. His mind began to betray him as his mind began to wonder about what he would feel like if his own girls had ended up in a place like this. He checked every room, disgusted by what he found. There was blood on some of the floors and... equipment he wished he had never seen. He eventually reached the room at the end of the hall, where he found Aellai...

...and nearly puked. The child was shackled to the bed and completely stripped. She had a collar around her neck with green stones that glowed. She was covered in dirt and dried blood and- he didn't want to consider what else. Matts ran over and found the key thrown carelessly near the bed. What kind of sick freak would do such a thing? He quickly unshackled her. The girl's hands immediately went to her collar, trying to weakly pull it out.

"Hey, easy there," Matts said softly as he moved to help take off the collar.

Xxx

Batman took off down the hall the moment he heard the scream. He cringed slightly when he heard the scream abruptly end. He ran into the room at the end, ready to attack whomever was responsible.

He found the officer's body near the center of the room, his throat covered in blood. The attacker was near the bed, blood covering her chin. Her golden eyes were wide with rage as she glared at him, ready to strike. Batman approached, accidentally kicking something on the ground. It skidded across the floor and stopped near the girl. The girl immediately crumbled, hissing softly. Batman looked at what he kicked, confused, till he saw the glowing stones on the collar.

_Kryptonite!  
_Batman took another step forward, still considering his options, when he heard something from under the bed.

"You can come out," Batman said. "No one is going to hurt you anymore."

It was silent for a few moments, than he could hear shuffling under the bed something began to crawl out form under the bed. It was another girl, slightly smaller than the other, with long, matted black hair and bright, purple eyes. She shook, but her eyes didn't seem as scared as he would have expected, more curious than anything. She had a long slash down the side of her face, the blood running down her chin and onto her chest. Batman knelt down and reached forward to get a better look (he was surprised when the girl didn't so much as flinch) but the other girl bit down on his arm.

He was surprised by the strength behind it. He could feel her teeth sink dangerously into his arm. If he tried to pull away, he'd lose a chunk of his arm. She shouldn't have had that much strength, not so close to the Kryptonite. He looked down at the girl's eyes. She glared back with almost an insane amount of fear.

He had seen the look in her eyes before. She was trying to hide how much of pain she was in, trying to deny the fear by lashing out. The story told in her golden eyes was painful, a story that should not be told by anyone, much less a ten-year-old girl. Before Batman knew what he was doing, he was gently stroking her head. The girl flinched at his touch, but didn't loosen her hold. Batman couldn't bring himself to care, he seemly kept petting her head. He didn't know how long he was there, but the girl was eventually was overcome by her exhaustion and she slipped into unconsciousness.

Batman stood, cradling the girl in his arms. The other girl looked up at him, her eyes wide.

By the time Gordon came into the room, the room was empty.

Xxx

She didn't remember falling asleep. She didn't even realize she had until she woke up to see the older man leaning over her. She squealed and jumped up, instantly regretting it. She became dizzy and fell backwards.

"It is alright," the man said, his voice accented. "You are in no danger."

She sat up slowly and nodded. She could see the truth in his aura. She looked around to find herself in a room much cleaner and much fancier than any she had been in since her mother died. She was on a bed, her red-headed sister still asleep beside her. And they were wearing clothes. Real clothes. Well, they were over-sized pajamas, but more than they had in years. And her sister's hair was cut short, nearly to the skull. She found her own hair in a similar state.

"I am sorry about your hair," the man said. "It was so matted it was salvageable, and I could not leave it because the filth that was in it would have made you sick, eventually."

_Your hair is so beautiful..._

She shuddered at the memory.

"It's alright," she said softly. "Aellai would have been fine."

"She is Kryptonian, is she not?" the man asked.

She nodded.

"And you...?"  
"No," she said. "Aellai's mom was Kryptonian, mine wasn't. But we had the same dad."

"You are half-sisters then," the man said thoughtfully. "My name is Alfred."

"I'm Maia," she said. "Aellai and Maia."

"Interesting."

"Where's Batman?" she asked.

"Asleep, as you should still be."

Maia nodded and laid back down. She was out before Alfred made it to the door.


End file.
